Maniac Mansion (Lucasfilm Games) - 1987
Series: Let's Adventure! A Journey into Adventure Games (1980-1999)This review is part of the Let's Adventure! series. See all reviewed games sorted by rating here.
- ← Martian Memorandum (Access Software) - 1991
- Maniac Mansion (Lucasfilm Games) - 1987
Article 100 of 100 in this series.
Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend Sandy Pantz from a mad scientist, whose mind has been enslaved by a sentient meteor. The player uses a point-and-click interface to guide Dave and two of his six playable friends through the scientist’s mansion while solving puzzles and avoiding dangers. Gameplay is non-linear, and the game must be completed in different ways based on the player’s choice of characters. Initially released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, Maniac Mansion was Lucasfilm Games’ first self-published product.
The Edison mansion has always been a creepy old house on the edge of town. There have been rumors of strange experiments going on and of odd creatures living amongst the Edison family. There is even a story that a meteorite once crashed near the home nearly 20 years ago. More immediately, a girl named Sandy has gone missing from the local highschool and her boyfriend Dave swears that he saw Dr. Fred abducting her. Dave knows that he cannot do it alone and will need help from two other students if he has any hope of infiltrating the mansion and rescuing Sandy.
Players start by choosing two students to accompany Dave to the Edison mansion, and can then switch between these three characters at will. Most actions are carried out by selecting verbs on the screen and applying them to an object (such as “OPEN Door”). Each character maintains a separate personality and may have a different way to solve a problem from his classmates. Thus many of the puzzles can be overcome in different ways depending on the character being used. If any one of the kids are captured by the Edisons, they are thrown into the dungeon and must be rescued themselves by any character who still has their freedom.1
For my 100th game review of this series I wanted to do something special, and given my history with ScummVM I thought it fitting to commemorate this milestone by playing through the game the system was originally designed for.
Since pretty much everything to do with this game is great, I wanted to start off with one of the weaker aspects of Maniac Mansion - the audio. Though there’s a theme song for the game that plays during the intro sequence, and again when you finish the game, there’s no other background music to speak of. Since I played this game originally on the NES way back in the day, this was a bit disappointing as the NES release had a great soundtrack. I’ve included my favourite entry below for your listening pleasure:
You do get occasional sound effects (doors opening/closing) and some select interaction (playing the records or the piano), but aside from that the adventure is pretty quiet. I played through the DOS v2 version of the game (see “The many versions of Maniac Mansion: a dorky breakdown” for more info), so it’s possible there was more music/sfx in other releases, but I don’t believe this was the case.
Visually, the game is stunning. Character sprites are big and expressive, background and scenes are detailed and colourful and it’s fairly easy to pick out things you can interact with. Though there are some pixel hunting moments throughout, it’s fairly straightforward as you can select the WHAT IS verb and just move mouse around the screen (without clicking anywhere) to have action areas identified.
Maniac Mansion really set the tone for what the golden age of point and click adventure games would become. The ever-present clickable verb list made it obvious how you could interact with the game screen, and any verb you select would remain so when you clicked a target, the interaction was obvious. To streamline this experience further, you can use the QWERTY/ASDFG/UZXCV keys as shortcuts for the verbs so you don’t have to move the mouse off of something you want to interact with just to pick a verb.
This is extremely useful when you’re pixel hunting in a dark room for a light switch, which is a more frequent event in this game than you might think. What is strangely absent from the verb list is a way to TALK to other characters, but given you’re trying to avoid the Edison’s, you’re probably not missing out on much.
Future games like Day of the Tentacle would refine the verb list and condense multiple verbs into one, but given Maniac Mansion set the tone for these future games, the lesser used verbs like FIX and TURN OFF don’t really get in your way or detract from the experience.
There are a lot of items you will come across in the mansion which you can PICK UP and USE. The majority of the puzzles in this game rely on picking up the right item for the right situation. Since there are multiple kids you can play through the game with, there are even situation and character specific items that can be used.
For example, only Bernard and Jeff can FIX the phone once you have the tools. If any of the other kids pick up the tools and try this, they’ll let you know this isn’t possible.
It’s possible to finish the game with every combination of kids, which adds massive replayability to this game. There are many different ways to solve certain puzzles, and though it’s not always obvious, the puzzles typically aren’t overly obtuse that you can’t reason your way out of it without resorting to a walkthrough.
Though this is a LucasArts game, you can actually die in it. When this happens, the kid that died will no longer be accessible and a tombstone will appear out front of the mansion. This can actually lead to the game becoming unwinnable, which is a general frustration with this title. Surprisingly there are actually a number of ways to lose Maniac Mansion beyond just losing one of the kids. This is likely an artifact of LucasArts’ earliest attempt at this type of adventure game, as subsequent titles definitely made the games a lot more forgiving of player errors.
Bernard can’t get past the Green Tentacle himself. Switch kids and try with someone else
There are various in-game cutscenes that play out as well which give you behind the scenes glimpses at the interactions between the Edison’s. This often doesn’t add all that much value, but occasionally clues you in to things you’ll need to do at certain points in the game.
For example, with Bernard on your team you need to fix some wiring in the attic, but to do that you need to cut the power to the house. You can do this yourself by flipping the breaker in the basement, or at a certain point Weird Ed will have the Tentacle do it during a cutscene, which gives you 5 minutes to do it instead.
There is a flashlight you’ll find early on, which you’ll need to find fresh batteries for. There are many dark rooms in the game, so having the flashlight is a helpful way to scan the area looking for clues or a light switch. The latter isn’t as necessary as you have the handy WHAT IS verb, but the flashlight can make this even easier.
Maniac Mansion’s goal is laid out plainly from the start - help Dave find and rescue Sandy. You’ll learn throughout the game that she’s held in the secret basement lab by Weird Ed and a Purple Tentacle, and it seems Ed is being controlled by a meteor (the one that crashed during the intro sequence).
To rescue Sandy, you’ll need to get past Ed and the Tentacle and the meteor, which can be done in many different ways depending on which combination of kids you choose to play through with.
I think having Bernard in the party is considered the easiest route through the game, as he’s able to solve most puzzles and is the one that can fix the phone and wiring in the house. He’s also able to call the Meteor Police once you find the phone number (which is on the poster above the radio you use to call them).
Calling the police will summon them to the basement, so if you’ve opened the vault doors to the secret lab, they’ll go in, arrest the meteor then you just need to get in there to free Sandy. Once that’s done, the game is over and after a short sequence, you get the option the restart the game.
You rescue Sandy, and are rewarded with a chance to press F4 to play again
Maniac Mansion still stands out today as one of the greats, and is worth playing through once or twice even today. Though it’s really not all that long or difficult a game to complete, there’s enough variety to keep new and old gamers alike entertained.
The characters are all well developed and interesting, and from the brief intro you get during character selection, it’s sort of obvious how they may help you solve certain puzzles.
The fan remake made using Adventure Game Studio is worth checking out
There was a fan remake called Maniac Mansion Deluxe that many consider the definitive version of this game. It has enhanced graphics and sound, a soundtrack and cleans up the verb list to be more aligned with Day of the Tentacle.
If you’ve never played Maniac Mansion, the Deluxe version would likely be the best way to experience this game today, and it’s also compatible with ScummVM, which makes it even easier to get into.
This is one title I’d very, VERY highly recommend. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn good!
Game Information
| Game | Maniac Mansion |
| Developer | Lucasfilm Games |
| Publisher | Lucasfilm Games |
| Release Date | 1991 |
| Systems | Commodore 64, Apple II, IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Game Engine | SCUMM |
My Playthrough
| How Long To Beat? | 3 hours |
| Version Played | DOS via ScummVM |
| Notes | Walkthrough |
Score
See here for a refresher on how we’re scoring these games.
| Graphics (15) | 12 |
| Sound (10) | 3 |
| Plot / Progression (25) | 19 |
| Characters / Development (15) | 12 |
| Gameplay / Experience (15) | 12 |
| Replayability (5) | 4 |
| Impact / Impression (10) | 6 |
| Bonus / Surprise (5) | 3 |
| 71% |
Gallery
Footnotes
Description from Moby Games ↩︎